Charles Herbert Aslin was born in Ecclesfield, Sheffield, Yorkshire England on 15 December 1893 and trained in the Department of Architecture, Sheffield University. He began his career working in the city architect's department in Sheffield and in 1922 was appointed Borough engineer in Rotherham. After teaching for a period at the University of Sheffield, in 1929 he was appointed Borough Architect, Derby, a post he held until 1945. During his tenure he was responsible for the Central Improvement Plan, which led to a number of significant changes in the layout of Derby. Notable among buildings in Derby designed by Aslin were the Police Station and Magistrates' Courts, Exeter Bridge and, in 1933 the Bus Station.
From 1945 to 1958 he was County Architect for Hertfordshire. He was noted for the use of prefabricated standardized components in the construction of schools, and during his time at Hertfordshire CC, designed over 100 schools.
Aslin was elected an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (ARIBA) in 1920 and a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1932. He was Vice-President of the RIBA in 1948-50 and 1952-53, and President of the RIBA in 1954-55. He was awarded the RIBA Bronze Medal for Essex, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire in 1951, and was the United Kingdom representative on the UNESCO Working Committee for Research into school design
Aslin retired in 1958. His address was given as 73 Lennox Rd Hillsboro Sheffield in 1911; 2 Ashgate Road, Broomhill, Sheffield in 1923; 19 Edgebrooke Road, Neter Edge, Sheffield in 1926; 2, West Bank Avenue. Derby, Derbyshire in 1939; and New Place, 54 Queens Road, Hertford in 1959. He died in Hertford on 18 April 1959
Derby police court & offices (1936); Homelands girls' secondary school, Normanton, Derby (1942); Mental hospital, Derby: Admission block (1943); Aboyne Lodge Infants' School at St Albans, Hertfordshire (1948); Police station, Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire (1952); Summerswood School, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire (1952); Secondary Modern School, Langleybury, Hertfordshire (1957)
'Aboyne Lodge Infants' School at St Albans: using the unit planning system; Architect: C. H. Aslin, county architect'. Architects' Journal 20 May 1948 p.463
Aslin, C. H. 'The postwar schools of the Hertfordshire County Council'. Architects' Journal 20 Octoner 1949 pp. 431-440
'Derby police court & offices; Architect: C. H. Aslin'. Architect & Building News 15 May 1936 pp. 194-196
'Derby police court & offices; Architect: C. H. Aslin'. Architectural Design May 1936 pp. 239-241
'The Hertfordshire achievement: new schools designed & built for Hertfordshire County Council; Designed by: County Architect, C. H. Aslin & his staff'. Architectural Review June 1952 pp. 371-384.
'Homelands girls' secondary school, Normanton, Derby; Designed by: C. H. Aslin, borough architect'. Architecture Illustrated November 1942 pp. 129-132
'Mental hospital, Derby: Admission block; Architect: C. H. Aslin, S. Morrison'. Architecture Illustrated April 1943 pp. 38-40
Mills, Edward David. The New Architecture in Britain 1946-1953. London: The Standard Catalogue Co., 1953 [Discusses the Hampden Secondary School designed by C. H. Aslin and William Archibald Henderson for Hertfordshire County Council (1949-51)
'New police station, Rickmansworth, for Herts. County Council; Architects: C. H. Aslin and R. C. N. Paul'. Architect & Building News 24 April 1952 pp. 481-489.
‘Secondary modern school, Langleybury, Hertfordshire; Architects: James Cubitt & Partners and C. H. Aslin’. Architecture & Building (London) November 1956 pp. 412-416. [Also published in Rhodesian Architect October 1957 pp. 51-53]
'Summerswood School, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire: 2-form entry junior school for 320 children; Architect: C. H. Aslin, county architect'. Architectural Design August 1952 pp. 224-233